The French Public's Reaction to Sarkozy

Mark Sampson - Wed 16 Jan, 2008

Already eight months since he assumed the presidency, it was Monsieur Sarkozys turn a few days later. The papers were full of his glitzy one-man show at the Elyse Palace before an assembled multitude of journalists. In Le Monde, he was likened to General de Gaulle without the kepi. Bordeauxs daily Sud Ouest dubbed him Le Prsident bulldozer: a man seemingly indifferent to criticism, determined to push on with contentious reforms. What do the locals here think of their newish president?

This year we saw in the New Year at the monumental home of two exceptionally tall German friends. 

We ate like guests of the French President, danced to a local duo’s surprisingly authentic blues and, come midnight, went outside to drink a glass of champagne in the frigid air and launch a dozen diaphanous paper lanterns skywards. 

A few days later, I sat down to review all that I’d still not yet achieved during 2007 and set some goals for 2008 that, as always, leave a nagging doubt that they might end up as pie in the sky. 

Already eight months since he assumed the presidency, it was Monsieur Sarkozy’s turn a few days later. The papers were full of his glitzy one-man show at the Elysée Palace before an assembled multitude of journalists. 

In Le Monde, he was likened to General de Gaulle without the kepi. Bordeaux’s daily Sud Ouest dubbed him “Le Président bulldozer”: a man seemingly indifferent to criticism, determined to push on with contentious reforms. 

What do the locals here think of their newish president? 

Jean-Claude was out exercising his dog and his dicky heart. He’s retired homme des affaires, who did well from the rag trade. His elegant house accommodates one of those perplexing pocket-less billiard tables. 

“He’s fine. Let him get on with it. Everyone’s always complaining about something. The trouble is, people want too much these days. A new mobile phone, a new computer, a new television, a new this, a new that. Then they discover they can’t afford it all and look around for someone to blame.” 

During his presidential campaign, Sarkozy cast himself as the champion of the “pouvoir d’achat”. Purchasing power. The euro in your pocket. The supermarket ads trumpet the catchphrase at every opportunity. Polls, however, suggest that Jo Le Public is not convinced. Evidence of cantering inflation is everywhere. 

“Pouvoir d’achat,” snorts Corinne, the feisty single-mother who cleans like a tornado for middle-class homeowners. Such issues as inflation affect her keenly and she tells me of old people she knows who have to survive on €500 per month.

Yet, what shocks her most, she suggests, “is the way he [Sarkozy] directs everything himself.” She explains that it’s the president who is the diplomatic head of state, while the premier ministre runs internal affairs. “But Sarkozy wants to control everything; Fillon [the prime minister] is just a ‘carpet’.” 

“And the way he answers questions. It’s like two blokes bantering together. We expect our president to be much more formal, you know. It’s very shocking. We French are very…” and she makes a familiar gesture with her two hands to suggest a narrow field of vision. 

And Carla Bruni? The multi-lingual almond-eyed ex-“top-modèle” who once stole the heart of Eric Clapton only to re-invent herself as a damnably successful singer-songwriter. 

“Hmmm. It’s all happened at a rather convenient time, hasn’t it?”
A smokescreen in other words? 

“Well... There’s a lot of bad feeling about the visits of Qaddafi and Putin. And the polls and the economy and everything have been disappointing.” 

And did she believe that they would – as Sarkozy intimated – get married? 

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so. There’s something not right. Look at that ring he gave her. It’s exactly the same as the ring he bought Cécilia [his ex-wife]. A €20,000 Dior ring. €20,000! And that’s another thing. All this glamour and luxury. All the photographers everywhere. Of course it went on before. But it was covered up. Now it seems so shameless. So…” and she puts her hand up in front of her face.

“When he tries to do away with the 35-hour week. That’s when we’ll really see what we shall see,” she tells me with a certain glee.

Despite murmurs of discontent, the honeymoon isn’t yet over. Sarkozy is seen by many as a loose cannon, which fascinates even his sternest critics. There was something about his seductive performance at the Elysée that made me think back to our New Year’s Eve party. It was a glamorous and memorable spectacle, those paper lanterns drifting heavenwards under a star-spangled sky. But it was hot air from the little on-board candles that took them up there. And when there was no more hot air, they simply fizzled and died. 

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